SALUS POPULI SUPREMA LEX ESTO The Byron Shire Echo • Volume 39 #14 • September 11, 2024 • www.echo.net.au
Eleventh hour plea from small biz in Byron’s CBD
Spring is in the hair
Local business owners say they still face closure from Council road works Paul Bibby Byron Council staff will meet with businesses affected by the upcoming Lawson Street drainage works to discuss a range of measures intended to mitigate the impact of the poorly timed project. But with the jackhammers ready to rumble this week, and financial compensation seemingly off the table, the meeting seems unlikely to ease the business owners’ pain. As Council proudly spruiked its new Business, Industry, and Visitor Policy last month, staff were informing more than a dozen local business owners that drainage works lasting up to four months were due to begin on Lawson Street in just three weeks. Coming on the back of a threemonth water-main upgrade, and now the total closure of the street during the spring-summer is like a body blow to the small, grass roots operations there. A number of the businesses say they will be forced to close if the works go ahead as planned without significant compensation. ‘We understand that the works need to be done… but if we could at least have been warned that this was going to happen, a lot of this pain could have been prevented,’ one of the affected business owners, Thomas Martin, told last week’s Council meeting. ‘It’s a dire situation in all honesty.’ Council says that the timing of
the project cannot be changed, as it’s part of a packed schedule of drainage works across the Byron CBD that is funded through a state government grant that features strict completion deadlines. In an attempt to reduce the impact of the works, councillors Cate Coorey (Independent) and Sarah Ndiaye (Greens) successfully moved a motion that will see staff, and the contractors undertaking the works, meet with the affected owners to discuss mitigation measures. These include allowing the businesses to extend or vary their business hours, deferring footpath dining fees, and an advertising and signage campaign to let visitors and locals know that the businesses are still open.
Home grown precinct ‘I very much feel for these business owners,’ Cr Coorey said. ‘It’s one of our last precincts in the CBD of businesses that is home grown. I feel that they very much need a break, and they didn’t get very much notice.’ But Mr Martin said the proposed measures were vague and did not provide the financial support that the businesses would need to stay afloat. ‘It’s about the bottom line at the end of the day,’ Mr Martin said. ‘We’ve got employees to pay, we’ve got rent to pay, we’ve got suppliers to pay and if that turnover stops then that’s when everyone ▶ Continued on page 3
Byron candidate Q&A with community/residents’ group, CABS ▶ p8, 9, & 11
Liz and Kaspia were the Queens of Shearwater’s Flower Crown workshop at Saturday’s Spring Fair. The yearly event on Left Bank Road, Mullum, celebrates the change in season and all things Steiner. Photo Jeff ‘What’s Love Is Hair’ Dawson
Former Feros Village awarded 40-year lease The former Byron Bay Feros Village aged care facility has been awarded a long-term 40-year lease with the site’s new operator, St Andrew’s Village Byron Bay Ltd, says the NSW government. NSW Minister for Lands and Property, Steve Kamper said, ‘As part of the lease agreement, St Andrew’s is investing about $3 million in capital works to ensure the site’s aged care facilities are refurbished and aged care standards are met’. St Andrew’s took over operation of the Marvell Street site in January with an interim licence after it was selected as the preferred proponent to negotiate a lease following a public expression of interest (EOI) process. The EOI was initiated by the
What’s the political scene in Ballina? ▶ p14, 24
NSW government after the former operator Feros Care announced In February 2023 that it planned to close the aged care facility.
Renamed George’s Cottages The facility was later rebranded ‘George’s Cottages’, in honour of legendary Byron Bay resident George Feros. Minister Kamper’s office said, ‘The land where the aged care facility is located remains Crown land owned by the NSW government’. ‘Built assets on the reserve will remain in the ownership of the government for the community’. Federal Member for Richmond Justine Elliot (Labor) said, ‘The awarding of the 40-year lease to St
Hope for cynics in times of declining trust ▶ p16
Tweed council reviewed ▶ p20, 22
Andrew’s Village is a massive community victory, and together we’ve secured the long-term future for this important aged-care facility.’ Member for Ballina Tamara Smith (Greens) said, ‘This is a huge win for the residents who found themselves in their 80s and 90s having to take to the streets and protest so that their voices could be heard, and their homes saved.’ ‘Hearing this, it just makes me feel secure,’ resident Kate Smorty told The Echo. Ms Smorty was one of the key organisers against the closure of Feros Village. ‘Since St Andrew’s have taken over, the place is much better run and very pleasant,’ Kate added. The media release by Minister Kamper’s office did not mention Council’s involvement and lobbying in retaining the site.
It’s time to think about enrolments ▶ p30
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